Bill fed the waitresses on schedule. Jo Ann ate first and then Rosie and Edelgarde. They all ate fish with double orders of vegetables, not the special because that was sold out. He made it nice for them by making it personal. He sautéed some of the leftover mushrooms in butter with white wine and lemon juice and then added capers.
The waitresses were his allies. He had won them over in two nights, not by having done anything special but simply by being a good cook and making it so the food that went out to the customers was primo. Pretty, steaming hot and good: that was the key. When push came to shove, the first two of the three were the key ones. They would almost always get you by. Pretty good would do, but not if it wasn’t steamy hot and pretty.
As a special added touch he garnished it with a sprig of parsley. Each of the girls told him yummy when they’d picked up their food and they told him super yummy after they’d eaten.
Caesar was the only unhappy person. He was losing his girls. He knew this and he could feel it. He sensed that Rosie and Edelgarde were sweet on Bill, but even Jo Ann was changing allegiance. Part of it was Bill’s emerging status as first cook of the main kitchen and his having final say over the food in The Falstaff Room. Part of it was that Bill was just plain nice. The final part was that she hated some of the things Caesar did, first and foremost the uniform inspection every day during which time Caesar’s hands were on her, on them all. She hated that, they all hated it.
Jimmy G cut out again at 11:00. He stayed gone while Bill did the last orders and until that last set of tables was served. Once again Bill did not mind even though he had to go to the bathroom and he wanted to get a little walk and take a rest. He told Edelgarde that if she still wanted him to hold her skirt for her, she could meet him at the same bathroom he and Rosie had used soon as Jimmy G came back. She said she just couldn’t wait. He asked her to get him an espresso.
Edelgarde came back a few minutes later. She had a double espresso for Bill set in a coffee mug. They didn’t use mugs in The Falstaff Room. They only used fine china. But room service used mugs and Kalista kept a stash of them by her all the time just for times like this.
“Kalista told me to take good care of you,” Edelgarde said when she delivered the espresso. She winked as she said it and did a little wiggle. “I’m planning to,” she said with a smile.
Bill couldn’t help himself. He felt the little itch start to stir and he took a good look at her as he sipped the coffee. He would have said something, but Caesar came by. He’d come to order his own dinner but he said something first about the girls eating the filet of sole.
Bill didn’t respond to Caesar, not directly. Caesar had asked for a steak and Bill asked how he wanted it cooked. He asked it as he was turning his back to fetch it and get it done for him quickly, not because he was interested in pleasing Caesar but because he wanted to meet Edelgarde. He already knew how Caesar liked his steak cooked. He was feeling curious now to see what Edelgarde tasted like, how she felt. They hadn’t really kissed yet, never really touched, and he was curious.
Of course, as the saying went, curiosity killed the cat.
